‘Western Dawn’ originated as a seedling produced from a controlled cross performed in a sexual breeding program conducted by the State of Western Australia at Stoneville Research Station, Western Australia in the fall of 1976. It was bred using conventional breeding techniques. ‘Western Dawn’ is a cross between female parent ‘Lady Williams’ (not patented), a chance seedling originating in Western Australia, and male parent ‘Golden Delicious’ (not patented), and is a sister of ‘Cripps Pink’ (Pink Lady®, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,880), ‘Cripps-Two’ (Sundowner®, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,477) and ‘Big Time’ (not patented). ‘Western Dawn’ was first asexually propagated, by grafting onto rootstocks, at Stoneville Research Station in 1982 for testing purposes, and has been shown to remain true to type over successive generations.
‘Western Dawn’ is distinguishable from its parents by its maturity date and skin color. ‘Western Dawn’ matures earlier than ‘Lady Williams’ (late versus very late) and has a red-pink skin color as compared to the yellow skin of ‘Golden Delicious’.
Western Dawn was selected on fruit quality characteristics, including:                •excellent eating qualities        •an appealing bright pinkish red color, which stands out from other varieties        •bright creamy white flesh, which does not oxidize after cutting.        